<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Avoidance by The_Wandering_Mage</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26052361">Avoidance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wandering_Mage/pseuds/The_Wandering_Mage'>The_Wandering_Mage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Protective Natasha Romanov, Spidey Sense (Marvel), Spidey Sense Fail (Marvel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:14:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,770</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26052361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wandering_Mage/pseuds/The_Wandering_Mage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Civil War all of the Avengers and Co. are one big happy family except for the two resident spiders. Can Natasha find out why the child of the Avengers is avoiding her before he causes another war? What does Peter Parker have to hide?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker &amp; Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Avoidance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fan-fic so please be nice. It isn't very detailed. It is just a quick one-shot of an idea I had.  I may do another one shot in the same "world" later. I haven't really decided.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Rougues have been pardoned and for the most part moved back into the tower. Wanda and Vision had decided to move into a little place in upstate New York and come in for missions and team building. Clint and Scott of course still live with their families. Although Clint spends almost as much time at the Tower as Peter. Thor only visits on occasion or for missions. He spends most of his time in New Asgard helping his people adjust to their new lives and working on his relationship with his adopted brother. Bruce occasional visits New Asgard so, the Hulk can visit his Valkyrie friend as some sort of weird agreement him and the big guy made. What ever the agreement was Bruce seemed more relaxed and happy no longer always fearing the Hulk would take over. Although Banner's nervous energy around people never seems to completely fade. The rest of the Avengers have been doing better as well. Alot of the tension still remains but, although not all forgotten the sins of their "Civil War" had been mostly forgiven. Stark worked out most of his problem with a shrink. Although everyone is aware most of what allowed him to move on was the kid. Peter had managed to find out what really happened in Siberia but, after giving Cap one good hit to the face for leaving Stark for dead the kid got the adults to actually talk it out to the relief of everyone especially Natasha. For the public the Avenger's falling out was a war but, for Natasha it was just that a falling out. A falling out of her Family. A domestic dispute that had her pressured to pick sides between people who were more than just teammates. They were the only ones she really let into her heart even if she didn't show it. She just couldn't let people see her weakness but, it didn't mean her heart wasn't torn to shreds and stomped on when Germany happened or during all those fights leading up to and what came after. Especially what came after. She would eternally be grateful that the little bug had managed to soften Stark and bridge the gap in their fallen team. That didn't mean that she wasn't still sceptical. It took hardly anytime at all for the boy to wrap Stark around his finger and even less for the rest of the team. The emotional connections, the vulnerability was scary. If anything happened with this kid it could be an even worse fight and her team was still recovering. Natasha had of course done a full background check on the kid, the only surprising thing being that his parents were S.H.E.I.L.D.. The kids background though wasn't what really made her suspicious. It was whether or not he was cut out for the family she had managed to find. The kid could handle himself on the battlefield sure but, did he really care as much as she did about each of the people she called family. Natasha was determined to get to know the boy to know for sure. The only problem was in the last 6 months she was the only one the boy had yet, to make a connection with. Even Scott had managed to bond with the boy and he was hardly ever at the Tower. This only made Natasha more uneasy. Why was he avoiding her? Natasha was known for being the one to find out secret truths and his avoidance was starting to make her feel like this was more than a dislike for a similarly themed hero. At the beginning was very subtle, almost unnoticeable. Peter had been nervous around all the Avengers especially after he first unmasked himself a mere two weeks after their official return. Apparently the boy thought there was no way he could hide from two super spies, and he was right, so Stark agreed begrudgingly to let him call a meeting to introduce himself properly. After the outrage of Tony bringing a child to a war was out of the way the team quickly came to accept him as one of their own, like a little nephew. (Accept for Wanda and Vision who were more like cousins) The boy spent half his time at the Tower. Practically living there while Stark and Pepper acted as his parents making him do school work, go to bed, get to school on time with the help of Happy of course. (Even Happy liked the kid although he didn't show it much). The kid would spend so much of his time with them when he wasn't holed up in the Lab but, whenever he was around her he seemed nervous and would always sit the furthest from her. At first she chocked it up to him being intimidated by her but, it slowly became more noticeable. She had offered to train the kid in order to get to know him better. His natural reflexes and recognizance ability did give him quite the advantage but, she still easily took him down in their sparring lessons. Although most of his lessons were more on practicing form. He was enthusiastic about the training and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. He even got a kick out of it when she flipped him. But, she noticed that immediately after their sessions he would disappear and even sometimes cancel hanging out with the other Avengers while she was there. She found out he even tended to leave the tower or go to the lower intern levels to help out afterward. It was like he wanted to get as far away from her as possible. As time went on his avoidance of her became more blaring and only fueled her suspicions that something was going on. Why did the kid avoid her? Every time they were together he seemed like he was happy to see her but, he became more and more on edge and so did she. Peter even seemed to be less and less enthusiastic about their training and even canceled a couple of times. Most common excuse being sensory overload. Something the team had been briefed on. Often brought on by stress or exhaustion. Similar to and often causing panic attacks. Stark had developed tech to help the kid but, on occasion he still got them. Natasha suspected that maybe he was faking but, after going to check on him was sure he wasn't. The kid looked like he was on the verge of a meltdown which made her think that maybe he was stressed about her. The last straw was Peter trying to duck out of an Avenger's after mission celebration early. They had managed to defeat some, in comparison to other foes, low level aliens who decided they wanted to harvest resources without careing who was hurt in the process. The battle only lasted a day and there were only a few minor injuries. For an alien invasion that was a huge win. And all the Avengers were together, even the extended family was there. It wasn't the kind of occasion you just left early for no reason at. They had just finished their Swarma and everyone was standing around talking in small groups. The party was probably only like an hour and a half in when she saw Peter whisper something to Stark and head out to the balcony webshooters on. The new ones Stark had made with nano tech. Natasha stormed out after the boy. The boy was perched on the edge of the balcony still in his civilian clothes gazing out at the dark cityscape. "Leaving the party already? No ones even tried to lift Thor's hammer yet." Peter sighed "No I'm just going to get some fresh air. I'll be back." He didn't even take his gaze away from the twinkling lights of the city. "Can't just get fresh air sitting on the balcony? You have to swing across the city?" Natasha said arms crossed staring intently at Peter. Studying his every move. She could see him shifting eager to leave but, knowing he can't without drawing more suspicion. After a minute of debate the teen asks to the skyline "Why did you come out here?" "I came out here to find out what your problem is with me. You've been avoiding me as much as possible. At first I thought it was just intimidation but, you have cozied up to everyone else on the team. What is it? Do you just not like me or are you afraid I might find out something about you that no one else will?" She watched the teen stiffen as she spoke. His shoulders hunched with tension. He let out a deep breath and faced her. Turning around to sit on the railing just as Tony came around the corner with the rest of the team trailing behind him. "What's going on Romanov! Why is my A.I. alerting me that your integrating my kid?" Tony demanded. He came and stood between the two so he could see them both. The rest of the Avengers crowded around the three on the large balcony with mixtures of confusion and hostility. The hostility Natasha could feel at her back only fueled her discomfort. She really didn't want another Civil War especially because of some unknown beef between her and the spiderling everyone has come to love. Fear tears at her heart. She was the guarded heartless assassin after all coming after the doe-eyed innocent teen who had worked his way into everyone's hearts while half the team saw her as a coldhearted spy. She didn't know if she could handle the betrayal of her team siding with him, the new recruit. "Mr.Stark it's fine." Stark opened his mouth to say what was probably along the lines of "no it wasn't" when Natasha piped in "He's been avoiding me I just want to know why." She stated it as plainly and emotionless as possible. Most of the team seemed more curious and confused at that. "Maybe because, you're not exactly the friendliest ex-assassin" Stark threw at her. "Mr. Stark. She has the right to know why I have been avoiding her and it has nothing to do with her personally. Not really." Peter sighed and came off the railing to stand a few feet in front of Natasha rubbing the back of his neck nervously. The whole team turned their attention to him. Stark seemed like he was going to step in again but, Peter shot him a look and he stepped back and allowed Peter to handle it. Peter took a deep breath and took brief glances at Natasha meeting her eyes before looking at the ground again as he spoke. "The reason I have been avoiding you isn't because, I don't like you or I'm hiding something or anything like that. You've been really nice to me, training me but, you're dangerous and very suspicious of me. Which I know I haven't made any better by avoiding you." Natasha's brows knit. "But, because of that everytime I'm around you my Spidey sense goes off. Not much. But it gets to be annoying and uncomfortable after a while. It sets me on edge. And I can tell you have liked me less and less probably admittedly because, I avoided you. It has gotten worse. My spidey sense sees you as more of a threat so, I'm sorry. I don't want to be around you. It's really not your fault. You just make me uncomfortable because, every time I'm in the same building as you there is like a buzzing in my head that gets louder the closer you are." Natasha studied him. He seemed to be telling the truth but, somethings weren't adding up. Scott voiced her thoughts before she could say them "Wait so you avoid her because your spidey sense goes off around her?" Peter nodded at the ground " But, all of the Avengers are dangerous. Why does it only register her as dangerous?" "Yeah that's a good point! Why not all of us?" Sam chimed in from the back "Well it used to for almost all of you. Mr. Stark and Rodey being the exceptions. But, then after you got to know me it stopped. Because, you guys care about me. But, I guess Natasha never really warmed up to me so it just kinda stuck." "So what you're saying underoos is because, the ever suspicious assassin never let her guard down you never could let down yours." "Wow those therapy sessions really are improving you're communication skills Stark." Clint joked. "Shut up. Katniss I'm trying to keep your partner here from waterboarding my kid over being uncomfortable around a known assassin." "Mr. Stark. Like I said it's not her fault. It takes some people longer than others to become friends. You have to earn trust. It doesn't happen overnight and I haven't exactly helped things along by avoiding her just because, I was uncomfortable." Natasha took a moment to process that. It really made sense and she was almost kicking herself for not considering it. The thing she was most kicking herself for though was the fact that she had managed to get her insecurities so out in the open by putting herself in this situation. She should have known better than to question him so close to Stark and especially the rest of the team. She felt exposed. Everyone else had opened their hearts everyone but, her and now her own fear was driving a wedge in her family. She just wanted to crawl under a rock but, she couldn't. She had to keep on her mask. Not let anyone see exactly how much of her was on display and gracefully back out and hopefully slid back into an enjoyable night with her team. After tonight she could think and come up with a plan to work things out with the spiderling. "Your right trust does have to be earned and you definitely didn't help yourself by avoiding me. Your obvious discomfort and avoidance is like lighter fluid on suspicions. I really could teach you a thing or two on deception and avoiding suspicion. I don't trust anyone right off the back. It takes me years and I've only known you for a few months so, don't expect that to change anytime soon. But now that I know why you're avoiding me you can work on getting there." Natasha smirked Peter smiled "yeah. Feels like I have already earn some already." "Alrightly now that it seems the two Spiders are not going to bite the other's head off. We have a party to get back to and a room of mostly children wondering what the hell happened." Stark said clapping his hands and herded the group back in. Peter nervously looked back at Natasha. "I still need a minute. I'll be back in soon and maybe we could talk?" Natasha smirked "Sounds like a plan. I hope this means you won't be ducking out of as many trading sessions with me?" "Yeah sorry about that. I really do love training with you. I just can only take so much Buzzing." "That's alright, Peter" Natasha returned to the party and Peter joined her not long after. The two talked for a while. Her and Clint retelling of old missions including the retelling of the "language" story that had every one but, Captain laughing. Although he did smile and roll his eyes. Nat even taught him a few Russian phrases. He was a surprisingly good at getting the prunucation down. By the ended of the night Peter seemed more relaxed than he had ever around Natasha. She wondered for a moment, surprised in her hope, if Peter's sense wasn't picking her up any more. Peter caught her look and gave a small but, genuine smile. And whispered where only she'd be able to hear it "barely a whisper of a buzz. It's still there but, hardly noticeable. Certainly not enough to make me want to jump off the balcony" Natasha smiled back at Peter "That's good. Means you won't miss the grueling training session I have planned for tomorrow." Peter groaned but, smiled. Natasha couldn't help but, laugh a little. He really was adorable and kind. His sense was only a slight buzz of mistrust. It might always be she thought to herself. Probably still was with some of her team. She looked over a Wanda, Vision, and Stark. It might always be a slight buzz.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I really think this is how Peter's spidey sense would have reacted to Natasha if things had gone differently. Man I really wished we could have gotten some spider duo in the MCU. I would have loved a Natasha Peter training session where he is just a little too ecstatic to get flipped by Natasha.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>